Groundbreaking Collaboration: Unveiling the Dynamic Partnership Powering Avowed by Obsidian

Highlights

Avowed, the highly anticipated RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, is receiving assistance from Devoted Studios to ensure its successful release.

Obsidian is highly regarded in the RPG industry, renowned for creating successful games such as Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity.

In AAA game development, it is a common practice to collaborate with a support studio like Devoted. This partnership helps accelerate the progress and delegate lower-priority tasks.

Devoted Studios, based in Los Angeles, is lending a helping hand to Obsidian Entertainment's highly anticipated game Avowed, in order to ensure its successful completion. Set in the same world as Obsidian's acclaimed Pillars of Eternity CRPG series, Avowed is a first-person fantasy RPG.

Obsidian has earned a strong reputation as one of the leading RPG creators in the industry, thanks to their work on iconic games including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, Fallout: New Vegas, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Pillars of Eternity, and the upcoming Pentiment, set to release in 2022. As revealed in a recently released five-part documentary series chronicling Obsidian's extensive history in game development, Avowed was initially intended to be a cooperative RPG. However, the concept was later discarded, and within a span of eight months, the entire game was transformed into a narrative-driven single-player experience.

Avowed is set for a release date in 2024. To assist with the remaining tasks, Obsidian has enlisted the services of a support studio called Devoted. Devoted has collaborated with various studios on multiple games, ranging in scale, and has contributed in various aspects of game development. They have successfully transferred Five Nights At Freddy’s to the Nintendo Switch, provided level art for the Radiohead VR experience Kid A Mnesia Exhibition, and most recently co-developed and contributed engineering work for the cozy MMO life simulator Palia.

It is important to note that this partnership does not indicate any issues or concerns regarding the progress of Avowed or the excitement of gamers awaiting its release. It is common practice for major developers to engage support studios during the AAA game development process. Modern games are complex endeavors that require substantial effort from numerous developers, often working tirelessly to meet deadlines. Occasionally, studios rely on external assistance to expedite tasks, allowing their internal teams to focus on larger projects.

Devoted, a support studio in the thriving niche sector of the gaming industry, consists of developers who primarily offer their services to studios creating large, complex AAA games. While they occasionally dabble in original games themselves, their main focus is assisting studios with offloading lower-priority tasks. These types of studios, like Devoted, are spread worldwide and have played a significant role in the development of some of the biggest games released each year. With their involvement in the development of Avowed, Devoted will ensure that certain graphical assets are handled with expertise, aligning with Obsidian's objective of timely game completion.

Avowed is set to be released in 2024 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.